Carding-engine.



. J. ROGERS.

CARDNG ENGINE.

APPLmATxoN FILED ocT. 19. 1914.

Patente Jan. 1L 1916,

'uren sirenes HENRY J. noem-es, or LOWELL, MassAcrrUsETTs, essrenon ToALBERT n. MonToiv AND a. Munn ANDREWS, n cornnTEEnsi-irr Deine EUsrnEssis Meeren & aNDEEWs or LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

CARDING-ENGINE.

nier/,sea

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. i1, 1916.

Application led October 19, 1914. Serial No. 867,398.

To all whom t may concern.'

` Be it known that' I, HENRY J. ROGERS, a citizen of theV United States,residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful improvements inCarding-Engines; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, suoli as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

rl`he present invention relates to an iniprovement in carding engines.

Assuming a carding engine in perfect working order, with the top flatstraveling along the surfaces of the bends of the main cylinder andthence around the top flat chain sprockets and back again, the strippingplate is adjusted closely to the clothing of both the top flats and thecylinder and the top Hats are held in close contact with the top flatdisks thereby maintaining them in position to be properly stripped bythe stripping comb. T he top iat chain, under such condition ofadjustment, is tight and holds the top flats against the top iiat disksalongside of the top flat sprockets. ln use, the chain graduallystretches and then ceases to hold the top flats against the top flatdisks, with the result that the top flat clothing comes in Contact withthe stripping plate and the top fiat stripping comb strikes the clothingof the top flats passing by it. It then becomes necessary to tighten thechain in order to restore the parts to their previous positions ofadjustment. Sometimes the stripping plate is adjusted rearwardly, butthis affects the operation of the card and is therefore undesirable, andsometimes the comb also requires adjustment. ln order to hold the topflats in proper position with relation to the top flat disks, it hasbeen necessary to keep the chains under a heavy tension, and this, of

course, only operates to increase the wear and therefore increase thefrequency of adjustment of the tension of the chains. The striking ofthe stripping plate by the clothing has been prevented by readjustingthe stripping plate, which has been done in spite of the fact that itcaused an increase in the amount of strip. It has also been proposed toprovide means for holding the stripping comb at a predetermined distancefrom the flats, irrespective of the position of the flats due to thelooseness of the chain. Finally there comes a time when tightening thechain will not suflice to hold the top flats in Contact with the topfiat disks, and then `a new chain is required.

The object of the present invention is to produce a construction b vvirtue of which the top flats will be held in a certain and deiniteposition with relation to the stripping plate during the time they arepassing the stripping plate and with relation to the stripping combduring the time they are passing the stripping comb irrespective of thetension of the chain, so that the clothing will not be brought intocontact with the stripping plate, even when the stripping plate is inits advanced position of adjustment, and so that the flats will beproperly presented to the stripping` comb, and thus is secured not onlythe advantage of correct presentation of the parts above referred to,but a lesser chain tension, as a result of which the wear on the chainis very much reduced.

ln the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of theinvention, Figure 1 shows a portion of a main cylinder', the top flats,top flat chain, sprocket and associated parts; and Fig. 2 is an enlargedview showing a portion of the chain, sprocket, top ilat disk and topfiat.

rl.`he illustrated embodiment of the invention is described as follows:-'l`he main cylinder 10 is provided with the usual card clothing 11.The dash-and-dot line 12 shows the surface of the bend which determinesthe relative position of the traveling flats 13 with respect to the maincylinder so that the clothing 14 of the flats is correctly presented tothe clothing of the main cylinder. The traveling flats 13 are united bythe top flat chain 15 which carries them around in the usual way. Thetop flat chain sprocket 16 engages the bosses of the flats in drivingthem. The teeth 17 of the sprocket are curved forward, as at 18, toengage the bosses 19 on the flats at 20 which is beyond the center ofthe chain link pins 21. The effect of this is to turn the llats on thelink pins so as to cause the flats to be pressed against the edge of thetop flat disk 22, thereby causing the flats in their progress around thesprockets to be presented in certain and definite positions withrelationto the stripping plate 23 and the top fiat stripping comb 24.

By making the top fiat chain sprocket with teeth having their advancingcorners projecting forward, the top iats are caused to hug the surfaceof the top fiat disk, irrespective of changes in the length of the topfiat chain due to Wear and irrespective of whether the chain is tight orloose, so the top flats pass the stripping plate and-the stripping combin certain and definite positions with relation thereto. Thus themachine is enabled to run with a chain very much looser than hasheretofore been customary, and, as a consequence, the chain is subjectedto very much less Wear than heretofore, effecting a material saving inthe upkeep of the machine and securing, at the same time, a simplearrangement by virtue of Which the top flats are correctly presented tothe stripping plate and to the top fiat stripping comb.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 4 A cardingengine having, in combination, a main cylinder, revolving top Hats, atop fiat stripping comb, a top flat sprocket and a top fiat disk, saidsprocket having teeth the advancing corners of Which project for- Wardand engage the top flats, thereby holding them in proper positionsduring passage by the top iiat stripping comb.

HENRY J. ROGERS.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR D. GILBERT, ANDREW G. JENKINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve. cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

